Cubs Close To Trading For Matt Garza?

"The Cubs are close to trading for Rays righty Matt Garza, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. He says the Cubs "appear to have moved past the Rangers" in their efforts to acquire the 27-year-old. However, ESPN.com's Buster Olney hears that a deal for Garza is not close and is more likely to occur in July than now (MLBTradeRumors)."

We have been hearing Matt Garza rumors for awhile now, but I think Buster Olney is right. I say that because the Rays have such a turnover of their roster that I think they want to see how all these new young pieces are going to work out, and the one thing that has been able to remain constant from last year is their pitching staff. Eventually, Garza will get dealt, but I would be really surprised if it is before Opening Day.

Red Sox 2 Rays 4 (13th)

Boston wasted a gem from Jon Lester last night, but this was a hard fought loss and these types of games happen. Lester left the game with the lead after going 6 innings letting up only 1 run on 3 hits with 10 Ks. The problem was that Garza was just as good letting up 2 runs over his 7 innings, as Boston's offense just not seem to have an answer for him.

The Rays were able to tie it at 2-2 in the 8th when Red Sox killer Evan Longoria hit a bomb off Bard, who had his first tough outing in a long time. The Rays and Red Sox bullpen were able to shut down each other until the 13th inning when once again Evan Longoria hit a bomb, this time off Saito, who you really can't blame as he was forced to pitch 2 innings since the Red Sox are short on relievers and there was really no one left. If the game had gone any longer the Sox were going to bring out Buchholz.

With the loss the Sox are now 1 1/2 games behind the Yankees for 1st place in the AL East, but I think we saw the coming out party for the Rays last night. They have kind of been the sleeping dragon all year, but if Garza can pitch like he did last night, and Kazmir continues to get healthy then this team is going to make this a 3 team race again quickly....

Garza Hit Teixeira On Purpose

"Tampa Bay's Matt Garza hit New York Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira with a fifth-inning pitch Wednesday night, then said he did it because he's tired of opposing pitchers throwing at Rays All-Star Evan Longoria. "They can take whatever they want from it from it, but I just kind of got tired of people brushing him back. It's about time someone made a statement," Garza said, noting that Longoria was hit by a pitch in the opener of the three-game series on Monday night. "I hate to be that guy, but someone had to take a stand and say we're tired of it," the right-hander added. "You can go after our best guy. Well, we'll make some noise, too, and that's what happened (ESPN)."

Good for you Garza. Pitchers should stand up for their players, and that is exactly what Garza did here. I have always liked Garza. He is only 25 years old, and I feel like he is just going to get better and better. You know the Yankees are going to answer again for this, but it is worth it in the end, because if the Rays are going to get back into the AL East race they are going to need that "us vs. the world" mentality.

If you want to see the video you can watch it on ESPN (HERE) .

Phillies Strong at Home

Last night the game may have started about 2 hours late, but you couldnt tell by the way the Phillies played. John Kruk said on baseball tonight that the delayed start would hurt Rays starter Matt Garza and help Jamie Moyer, well the almighty Kruk was correct sir. From jump street garza didnt have is best stuff, and Moyer finally looked like a 16 game winner in the post season.

the offense was much more encouraging for the Phillies last night as well, even though it was primarily done by way of the long ball. but whatever, they put enough runs up to win and thats all that matters. I really cant say enough about Jamie Moyer, this guy continues to suprise me. i was nervous about him more than any other Philly starter, but he put my fears to rest. Chase continued to hit well, and him and Ryan Howard hit back to back bombs.


Now what makes me nervous are these motherfucking umpires. They made another bad call last night, once again, that went against the Phillies. jamie Moyer was robbed from making the best defensive play of the series. And what do you know, the rays would score a run as an eventual result of this....and it would lead to them tieing the game down the stretch. These guys are consitently making bad calls, we are all human, but they have to at least go both ways. i will admit Moyer stretched the strikezone a bit, but thats what he usually does.

I feel great doing into tonight, I feel that the Phils have a certain swagger about them and their confidence has to be riding high. If they win tonight, they will have hamels on the mound for the possible clintcher. Gigiddy